US West
Encyclopedia
U S WEST, Inc. was one of seven Regional Bell Operating Companies
(RBOC's, also referred to as "Baby Bells"), created in 1983 under the Modification of Final Judgement (United States v. Western Electric Co., Inc. 552 Fed. Supp. 131), a case related to the antitrust
breakup of AT&T
. U S West provided local telephone and intraLATA long distance services, data transmission services, cable television services, wireless communications services and related telecommunications products to defined areas in Arizona
, Colorado
, Idaho
, Iowa
, Minnesota
, Montana
, Nebraska
, New Mexico
, North Dakota
, Oregon
, South Dakota
, Utah
, Washington and Wyoming
. U S West was a public company traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "USW" with headquarters at 1801 California Street in Denver, Colorado
.
Until 1990, U S WEST was a holding company with three Bell Operating Companies: Mountain States Telephone & Telegraph (or Mountain Bell, based in Denver, Colorado
); Northwestern Bell
, based in Omaha, Nebraska
; and Pacific Northwest Bell
, based in Seattle, Washington
. In 1988, the three companies began doing business under the US WEST Communications name. On January 1, 1991, Northwestern Bell and Pacific Northwest Bell were legally merged into Mountain Bell which was renamed US WEST Communications, Inc. US WEST was the first RBOC to consolidate its Bell Operating Companies (the other was BellSouth
).
U S WEST merged with Qwest Communications International Inc.
on June 30, 2000 and over time the US WEST brand was replaced by the Qwest brand. Qwest Communications International Inc. merged with CenturyLink
on April 1, 2011 and the Qwest brand was replaced by the CenturyLink brand.
) in the 1980s and 1990s. Their lead in this push became one that many other Regional Bell Operating Companies had to scramble to keep up with.
U S WEST's success in this endeavor was for multiple reasons which included their then-innovative use of "test-markets" for staggered roll-outs of new calling features in middle-sized cities such as Boise, Idaho
, Minneapolis, Minnesota
, and Phoenix, Arizona
before releasing them on a wider scale. (They were the first communications provider to use this strategy called beta-testing, a term used for many years in the software development industry). Their geographic presence featured telephone switching equipment that had been constructed fairly recent to the time frame, thereby requiring fewer upgrades. Their service area was also experiencing population growth at a tremendous rate, tripling their subscriber-base in a short time and increasing revenues.
U S WEST Communications was the first local telephone company to offer Caller ID
service in 1991, nearly four years before any other local telco could do so. They were the first US telco to upgrade their PSTN to electronic switching before 1990 and they were the first to offer residential and business ISDN and later, DSL services to their customers by 1997. U S WEST was also briefly in the cable business with its purchase of Continental Cablevision in 1996, creating MediaOne
(which was later spun off).
As a result of its rapid "bring-to-market" abilities and continued success in the advances in technology, the company quickly adopted a new slogan— "Life's better here."
U S WEST went through a period of union/management relations that bordered on positive during the early 90's. After a failed reengineering strategy relations fell apart due to increasing hostility between company leaders and employees. When the company rolled out it's new new slogan— "Life's better here", employees began wearing buttons and shirts that stated that "Life's Bitter Here".
The company was fined multiple times by the State of Oregon
for these practices during the 1990s. U S WEST was also, at several times, involved in smaller litigation with other states within its service area for similar complaints from customers.
Qwest, MCI
, and smaller competitive local exchange carrier
s (CLECs) who had recently been allowed to offer local service within US West's service area (as a result of the Telecommunications Act of 1996) complained to the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) that US West was uncooperative in releasing their formerly owned lines to these new companies. These types of complaints landed US WEST in court yet again, offering the complex question of whether or not the government could legally offer the sale of owned property to other companies in the event of deregulation
.
and the Rocky Mountain News
revealed that CLECs had lodged complaints with the FCC against U S WEST, including multiple complaints from Qwest Communications International, Inc. The complaints alleged U S WEST neglected or seriously delayed release of "bundled loops" as required by the Telecommunications Act of 1996
, making it difficult for competitors to provide local telephone service to their customers. Other competitors began following suit, and charged US WEST with monopoly-like or anti-trust type behavior.
During the winter of 1999-2000, U S WEST announced that it had received an unsolicited purchase offer from Qwest Communications International, Inc. At the time, U S WEST had been attempting to merge with Global Crossing
, but for months this deal had been stalled through the United States Securities and Exchange Commission
(SEC). U S WEST management publicly refused Qwest's offer. Qwest eventually purchased enough US WEST stock to enable Qwest to take control of the Board of Directors
in March 2000.
On June 30, 2000, U S WEST, Inc. and Qwest Communications International, Inc. combined via merger. The Board of Directors of the newly merged company replaced U S WEST CEO Solomon Trujillio with Joe Nacchio, the CEO of Qwest Communications prior to the merger. The management of the combined entity immediately filed paperwork with the Delaware Corporation Commission to dissolve Qwest Communications International, Inc. and change the name of the surviving legal entity, U S WEST, Inc., to Qwest Communications International, Inc. Preserving U S WEST, Inc. as the surviving legal entity allowed the combined company to continue to trade on the NYSE under U S WEST, Inc.'s stock ticker symbol "USW". Upon the request of Nacchio, the NYSE agreed to change the company's NYSE stock ticker symbol to "Q".
After the merger, the Bell Operating Company subsidiary was renamed from US WEST Corporation to Qwest Corporation and other subsidiaries were similarly re-named to reflect the Qwest name.
After Qwest was acquired by CenturyLink
in 2011, the Qwest brand was replaced by the CenturyLink brand.
Regional Bell Operating Company
The Regional Bell Operating Companies are the result of United States v. AT&T, the U.S. Department of Justice antitrust suit against the former American Telephone & Telegraph Company . On January 8, 1982, AT&T Corp. settled the suit and agreed to divest its local exchange service operating...
(RBOC's, also referred to as "Baby Bells"), created in 1983 under the Modification of Final Judgement (United States v. Western Electric Co., Inc. 552 Fed. Supp. 131), a case related to the antitrust
Antitrust
The United States antitrust law is a body of laws that prohibits anti-competitive behavior and unfair business practices. Antitrust laws are intended to encourage competition in the marketplace. These competition laws make illegal certain practices deemed to hurt businesses or consumers or both,...
breakup of AT&T
American Telephone & Telegraph
AT&T Corp., originally American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is an American telecommunications company that provides voice, video, data, and Internet telecommunications and professional services to businesses, consumers, and government agencies. AT&T is the oldest telecommunications company...
. U S West provided local telephone and intraLATA long distance services, data transmission services, cable television services, wireless communications services and related telecommunications products to defined areas in Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
, Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
, Idaho
Idaho
Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....
, Iowa
Iowa
Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...
, Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
, Montana
Montana
Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
, Nebraska
Nebraska
Nebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....
, New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
, North Dakota
North Dakota
North Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, along the Canadian border. The state is bordered by Canada to the north, Minnesota to the east, South Dakota to the south and Montana to the west. North Dakota is the 19th-largest state by area in the U.S....
, Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
, South Dakota
South Dakota
South Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over...
, Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
, Washington and Wyoming
Wyoming
Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...
. U S West was a public company traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "USW" with headquarters at 1801 California Street in Denver, Colorado
Denver, Colorado
The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...
.
Until 1990, U S WEST was a holding company with three Bell Operating Companies: Mountain States Telephone & Telegraph (or Mountain Bell, based in Denver, Colorado
Denver, Colorado
The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...
); Northwestern Bell
Northwestern Bell
Northwestern Bell Telephone Company served the states just north of the Southwestern Bell area, including: Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Nebraska.- Early beginnings :Northwestern Bell's earliest roots begin in Deadwood, South Dakota...
, based in Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska, United States, and is the county seat of Douglas County. It is located in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 20 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River...
; and Pacific Northwest Bell
Pacific Northwest Bell
Pacific Northwest Bell Telephone Company was an AT&T majority-owned Bell System company that provided local telecommunications services in Oregon, Washington, and northern Idaho. Pacific Northwest Bell Telephone Company was formed on July 1, 1961 when it was spun off from the Pacific Telephone and...
, based in Seattle, Washington
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
. In 1988, the three companies began doing business under the US WEST Communications name. On January 1, 1991, Northwestern Bell and Pacific Northwest Bell were legally merged into Mountain Bell which was renamed US WEST Communications, Inc. US WEST was the first RBOC to consolidate its Bell Operating Companies (the other was BellSouth
BellSouth
BellSouth Corporation is an American telecommunications holding company based in Atlanta, Georgia. BellSouth was one of the seven original Regional Bell Operating Companies after the U.S...
).
U S WEST merged with Qwest Communications International Inc.
Qwest
Qwest Communications International, Inc. was a large United States telecommunications carrier. Qwest provided local service in 14 western U.S. states: Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.On April...
on June 30, 2000 and over time the US WEST brand was replaced by the Qwest brand. Qwest Communications International Inc. merged with CenturyLink
CenturyLink
CenturyLink, Inc. is a United States telecommunications firm, headquartered in Monroe, Louisiana. The company, founded as Central Telephone & Electronics Corporation in 1968, later changed its name to Century Telephone Enterprises, Inc. in 1971, and then was called CenturyTel, Inc. from 1999 to 2010...
on April 1, 2011 and the Qwest brand was replaced by the CenturyLink brand.
Accomplishments
U S WEST became a pioneer in the introduction and rapid system-wide implementation of telephone technologies designed by Bellcore (now Telcordia TechnologiesTelcordia Technologies
Telcordia Technologies, formerly Bell Communications Research, Inc. or Bellcore, is a telecommunications research and development company based in the United States created as part of the 1982 Modification of Final Judgment that broke up American Telephone & Telegraph...
) in the 1980s and 1990s. Their lead in this push became one that many other Regional Bell Operating Companies had to scramble to keep up with.
U S WEST's success in this endeavor was for multiple reasons which included their then-innovative use of "test-markets" for staggered roll-outs of new calling features in middle-sized cities such as Boise, Idaho
Boise, Idaho
Boise is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho, as well as the county seat of Ada County. Located on the Boise River, it anchors the Boise City-Nampa metropolitan area and is the largest city between Salt Lake City, Utah and Portland, Oregon.As of the 2010 Census Bureau,...
, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...
, and Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
before releasing them on a wider scale. (They were the first communications provider to use this strategy called beta-testing, a term used for many years in the software development industry). Their geographic presence featured telephone switching equipment that had been constructed fairly recent to the time frame, thereby requiring fewer upgrades. Their service area was also experiencing population growth at a tremendous rate, tripling their subscriber-base in a short time and increasing revenues.
U S WEST Communications was the first local telephone company to offer Caller ID
Caller ID
Caller ID , also called calling line identification or calling number identification or Calling Line Identification Presentation , is a telephone service, available in analog and digital phone systems and most Voice over Internet Protocol applications, that transmits a caller's number to...
service in 1991, nearly four years before any other local telco could do so. They were the first US telco to upgrade their PSTN to electronic switching before 1990 and they were the first to offer residential and business ISDN and later, DSL services to their customers by 1997. U S WEST was also briefly in the cable business with its purchase of Continental Cablevision in 1996, creating MediaOne
MediaOne
MediaOne was a cable company created by US West in 1995 where the cable service started as a division of US West Media Group.US West founded MediaOne , through the combination of GCTV serving Atlanta, Georgia and Dekalb County, Georgia and Wometco Cable's assets in the suburbs of Georgia.In time...
(which was later spun off).
Criticisms
U S WEST was accused by critics of failing to meet service needs within a reasonable time frame and of practicing predatory billing and collection methods. While the company often claimed that subscriber demands were often greater than their ability to fulfill orders, many critics pointed to high profit margins, spending on bring-to-market technology and lackluster investment in customer support.U S WEST went through a period of union/management relations that bordered on positive during the early 90's. After a failed reengineering strategy relations fell apart due to increasing hostility between company leaders and employees. When the company rolled out it's new new slogan— "Life's better here", employees began wearing buttons and shirts that stated that "Life's Bitter Here".
The company was fined multiple times by the State of Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
for these practices during the 1990s. U S WEST was also, at several times, involved in smaller litigation with other states within its service area for similar complaints from customers.
Qwest, MCI
MCI Inc.
MCI, Inc. is an American telecommunications subsidiary of Verizon Communications that is headquartered in Ashburn, Virginia...
, and smaller competitive local exchange carrier
Competitive local exchange carrier
A competitive local exchange carrier , in the United States, is a telecommunications provider company competing with other, already established carriers ....
s (CLECs) who had recently been allowed to offer local service within US West's service area (as a result of the Telecommunications Act of 1996) complained to the Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
(FCC) that US West was uncooperative in releasing their formerly owned lines to these new companies. These types of complaints landed US WEST in court yet again, offering the complex question of whether or not the government could legally offer the sale of owned property to other companies in the event of deregulation
Deregulation
Deregulation is the removal or simplification of government rules and regulations that constrain the operation of market forces.Deregulation is the removal or simplification of government rules and regulations that constrain the operation of market forces.Deregulation is the removal or...
.
Merger with Qwest
In 1996, reports appearing in The Denver PostThe Denver Post
-Ownership:The Post is the flagship newspaper of MediaNews Group Inc., founded in 1983 by William Dean Singleton and Richard Scudder. MediaNews is today one of the nation's largest newspaper chains, publisher of 61 daily newspapers and more than 120 non-daily publications in 13 states. MediaNews...
and the Rocky Mountain News
Rocky Mountain News
The Rocky Mountain News was a daily newspaper published in Denver, Colorado, United States from April 23, 1859, until February 27, 2009. It was owned by the E. W. Scripps Company from 1926 until its closing. As of March 2006, the Monday-Friday circulation was 255,427...
revealed that CLECs had lodged complaints with the FCC against U S WEST, including multiple complaints from Qwest Communications International, Inc. The complaints alleged U S WEST neglected or seriously delayed release of "bundled loops" as required by the Telecommunications Act of 1996
Telecommunications Act of 1996
The Telecommunications Act of 1996 was the first major overhaul of United States telecommunications law in nearly 62 years, amending the Communications Act of 1934. This Act, signed by President Bill Clinton, was a major stepping stone towards the future of telecommunications, since this was the...
, making it difficult for competitors to provide local telephone service to their customers. Other competitors began following suit, and charged US WEST with monopoly-like or anti-trust type behavior.
During the winter of 1999-2000, U S WEST announced that it had received an unsolicited purchase offer from Qwest Communications International, Inc. At the time, U S WEST had been attempting to merge with Global Crossing
Global Crossing
Global Crossing Limited was a telecommunications company that provides computer networking services worldwide. It maintained a large backbone and offered transit and peering links, VPN, leased lines, audio and video conferencing, long distance telephone, managed services, dialup, colocation and...
, but for months this deal had been stalled through the United States Securities and Exchange Commission
United States Securities and Exchange Commission
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is a federal agency which holds primary responsibility for enforcing the federal securities laws and regulating the securities industry, the nation's stock and options exchanges, and other electronic securities markets in the United States...
(SEC). U S WEST management publicly refused Qwest's offer. Qwest eventually purchased enough US WEST stock to enable Qwest to take control of the Board of Directors
Board of directors
A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...
in March 2000.
On June 30, 2000, U S WEST, Inc. and Qwest Communications International, Inc. combined via merger. The Board of Directors of the newly merged company replaced U S WEST CEO Solomon Trujillio with Joe Nacchio, the CEO of Qwest Communications prior to the merger. The management of the combined entity immediately filed paperwork with the Delaware Corporation Commission to dissolve Qwest Communications International, Inc. and change the name of the surviving legal entity, U S WEST, Inc., to Qwest Communications International, Inc. Preserving U S WEST, Inc. as the surviving legal entity allowed the combined company to continue to trade on the NYSE under U S WEST, Inc.'s stock ticker symbol "USW". Upon the request of Nacchio, the NYSE agreed to change the company's NYSE stock ticker symbol to "Q".
After the merger, the Bell Operating Company subsidiary was renamed from US WEST Corporation to Qwest Corporation and other subsidiaries were similarly re-named to reflect the Qwest name.
After Qwest was acquired by CenturyLink
CenturyLink
CenturyLink, Inc. is a United States telecommunications firm, headquartered in Monroe, Louisiana. The company, founded as Central Telephone & Electronics Corporation in 1968, later changed its name to Century Telephone Enterprises, Inc. in 1971, and then was called CenturyTel, Inc. from 1999 to 2010...
in 2011, the Qwest brand was replaced by the CenturyLink brand.
See also
- Northwestern BellNorthwestern BellNorthwestern Bell Telephone Company served the states just north of the Southwestern Bell area, including: Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Nebraska.- Early beginnings :Northwestern Bell's earliest roots begin in Deadwood, South Dakota...
- Pacific Northwest BellPacific Northwest BellPacific Northwest Bell Telephone Company was an AT&T majority-owned Bell System company that provided local telecommunications services in Oregon, Washington, and northern Idaho. Pacific Northwest Bell Telephone Company was formed on July 1, 1961 when it was spun off from the Pacific Telephone and...
- Qwest CorporationQwest CorporationQwest Corporation is a Bell Operating Company owned by CenturyLink. It was formerly named U S WEST Communications, Inc. from 1991 to 2000, and also formerly named The Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph Company from 1911 to 1991...
- Regional Bell Operating CompanyRegional Bell Operating CompanyThe Regional Bell Operating Companies are the result of United States v. AT&T, the U.S. Department of Justice antitrust suit against the former American Telephone & Telegraph Company . On January 8, 1982, AT&T Corp. settled the suit and agreed to divest its local exchange service operating...